Letters and Notes: A Post Hogwarts Story
by firenze's-fav
Summary: This story takes place 17 years later... and it tells the story of a secret that Ginny kept, but can no longer keep. The format will be mostly letters between people but there will be narrative too...
1. Default Chapter

b center Prologue /b /center 

i Dear Harry,  
  
Counting the times we've been apart on one hand isn't exactly the best way to start a letter is it? But its true we've only ever been apart 4 times and our fourth time lasted until now. I don't really know what to say except that I'm alive and well and I miss you terribly.  
  
Do you remember some of the times we had together? I do, they were some of the best memories of my life.

I went away so that you could focus on the task at hand but the going away sort of went longer then I had actually planned. It was my decision to stay away, and now I am not positive of whether I can truly say that I regret it.

True, I hate Trelawney with every fiber of my being for making the official prophecy "A boy will come to those who have thrice defied the Dark Lord...who has power the dark Lord knows not. Either must die at the hands of the other for neither can live whilst the other survives."

But in my heart I know that if it were not for you finding out about it you would not have been as prepared to take on that horrible thing.

Did you know its been about 17 years since I last saw you. I remember every moment of that day. It is not one that can so easily be forgotten. Harry that was the best day of my life and I am forever in your debt for the happiness that that one experience brought into my life.

There is no easy way to say this so I will just come right out and say it. You're a father. Her name is Elizabeth Harriet Potter (though that is not the name she is enrolled in school under. I made mother promise not to tell anyone, Hermione knows and I think she may have let it slip to Ron at some point. But then again he probably guessed. Where else would this beautiful young lady with bright green eyes, and dark auburn hair have come from.

She is a beautiful smart young witch she just finished her OWL's. Hermione was a bit put off when she found out that Liz got more than her. That is our Hermione though. Our daughter, God I love being able to say that. It had been the best sixteen years of my life raising her.

Our daughter is the smartest at her school and she was offered a full scholarship to come to Hogwarts for her last two years. She is going to go next year to do her NEWT's

At first I was hesitant to allow her, but she made a good point by saying that Professor McGonagall is now the Head Mistress. She also pointed out that her two most favorite classes are being taught by people that I went to school with, of course she was speaking of you and Neville Longbottom. She also added that it is the best in Europe and also because as it said in the brochure Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher Harry Potter is one of the best in world and we are lucky enough to have him here for the second year!

She knows that you are her father. All her life I've told her about you- the real you not the hero the world painted the one who was kind, generous and giving who wanted to give up all the money he had just to have a family, the person who defeated Tom and lived to tell the tale the one who wanted me to be there but knew we couldn't risk it.

The whole problem with her going to Hogwarts is that you'll be there I'm worried that she'll forget about me when she meets you. Do you think she will? Of course I do not really believe this, but it is hard to see how I could possibly compare with the wonderful Harry Potter. I think I've painted a picture of a normal decent man but what if you're not like that any more? What if your hard, conceited, indifferent?

I cannot actually believe this, you still speak to Ron from time to time, but battling with Voldemort has obviously changed you. I just hope that it has not hurt you too much. It would be more than I could stand.

When she was little she wished so hard for a dad she even had a list of what she wanted her dad to be like. I know I found it the other day she was so embarrassed that I had she took it back a shoved it underneath something in what I can only describe as a rubbish dump (its her room I don't know how she lives in there. It must be magic). She is scared to be going away to a place that she doesn't know, but she will not admit that to me. More importantly she is a bit worried to be going to a place where the only people that she knows are Ron and Hermione's children and you, a father she has never met. Unlike us she wants to be in is Ravenclaw but she'd take Gryffindor over Hufflepuff and Hufflepuff over Slytherin.  
  
She has been researching Hogwarts so much that for a while there I was beginning to wonder if there had been a mistake at the hospital, she and Hermione's daughter Estella were born on the same day. She knows about the chamber, she also found out inadvertently on a trip to the United States that like you she's a Parselmouth.

She found this out much younger than you did, and she has actually learned to slip into it when she doesn't want anyone to know what she is saying especially when she is cursing. She also knows that you are a Parselmouth, Hermione told her this to comfort her when she found out it was a mark of the Slytherin house.

I am just telling you this to warn you, so that you won't be caught off guard if she tries to talk to you in it. She may decide to surprise you for a bit of a shock factor! She's like that you know always up for a bit of mischief like you were at school. She also like you believes that she will never get caught. You had an advantage in this part because you had the Marauder's Map and the cloak.

Speaking of which, please do not give either of these item to her without a very thorough explanation of who they are from and how they work and how she is meant to use them. I would hate for her to be wasting time trying to figure them out when she should be studying for NEWTs.

Please be nice to her and don't tiptoe around her like she's a china doll, she really resents that. But possibly the worse thing that you could do, would be to claim that she isn't yours. I think this would break her heart. Worse still than that would be if you outright ignored her. She's too curious for her own good. I will understand if you do not want her to come there. I know that you will probably not understand why I have kept her from you this long.

Believe me when I say I want the best for both of you and I want you both to get to know each other. I will understand if you do not want her to come. We have agreed to let your decision stand.

I hope you will consider this idea, and I hope that you will be able to accept her into your life, but I am afraid. And, I don't know how the hell I am going to do without her for two years!  
  
Yours forever,  
Ginny

/i 


	2. Chapter 1: How It Started

b center Chapter One: How It Started /b /center 

A thirty-five year old Ginny Weasley was seated at the kitchen table with her best friend in the entire world. i Well second best, at least that is what she used to think. /i 

i "I just don't see what she is trying to accomplish," /i Ginny started. i "I understand that she wants to meet him, I have no problem with that, but why now. He is only in his second year of teaching. I know Liz and I know she would never do anything to purposefully hurt anyone, but what does she truly feel toward him?" /i 

"Ginny, you just have to let her. I agree with both of you that you should ask him before you just let her go, but she does have a right to an education, and she is right in saying that Hogwarts is the best in all of Europe. I would know. I am not the Head of the Department of Wizarding Education for nothing. That is where Estella and Robert go. By the way, Estella is looking forward to seeing Liz more often."

At this she stopped because she could see tears welling up in Ginny's eyes.

"Ginevra Molly Weasley, stop that right now. Liz will be home any minute and you do not want her seeing that this upsets you this much. She will never go on to school, she will be so worried about leaving you."

i "I know, I know... but it is going to hurt me so much to feel Harry's anger when he learns that I have kept this from him. He is happy at Hogwarts, you know that, I can feel it." /i 

"You can feel him from this far away? How? I know you are a Healer, but I have never heard of one being able to tell what someone is feeling from countries away."

i "I can, and have, felt just about everything that has happened to him since the last time that I saw him. He has been able to shield some things, no doubt his reading u _Empathy in Sorcery: A History and Guide /u _has given him a few tips. But for the most part I can feel everything that he can, and I know that he has been hurt in more ways than one several times since I have seen him." /i 

"I just hope that you aren't letting Harry's emotions get in the way of your work. It is a very big deal that you are the only healer in existence. That is a big responsibility. Maybe you will be able to rest easy knowing that someone other than your family, Ron, and I is looking after her. And maybe, just maybe, some of that hurt that you are feeling is because he misses you. All you can feel is the pain, you have no way of knowing what caused it."

Ginny was about to protest when she heard the door shut and the voices of three people walking up the hallway. She quickly walked over to the sink and started drying her eyes on a dishtowel.

"You will absolutely love Hogwarts, Liz. I've already received my letter for next year, and it says that we are to bring dress robes. That can only mean one thing. There is going to be some sort of ball." Estella was nothing like her mother, but very much like her namesake. She was intelligent, but she obviously got her work ethics from her father who was now entering the room with the young girls.

"Hogwarts is a very good school 'Stella, but Elizabeth has to make her own decisions, and as I can tell by the weight of this bag," at this he dropped Liz's bag on the floor with a loud thud, "She is going about the decision in a distinctly Hermione fashion."

"The only schools that Mom has explicitly no to are Durmstrang,"

"Of course." Everyone in the kitchen said at once. "That school is nothing more that a breeding ground for dark witches and wizards." Hermione added. "We have been trying to get someone on their Board of Education ever since my fourth year when it was found out that Karakoff was still a professed Death Eater."

"AND..." continued Liz as if she hadn't been interrupted at all, "Beauxbatons."

"Beauxbatons, why on Earth would she not want you to go there. Fleur, Bill's wife went to school there." This was Ron.

"Because Dearest," Hermione interrupted before Ginny had time to start giving people the death stare, "Beauxbatons is in France and right now France is not a very good place for someone who isn't fluent in French. There are so many political issues in that country right now. And the fact that the majority of the country is ruled by Draco Malfoy makes this even more dangerous."

"Mais, Je parle français assez bon. Vrai je ne suis pas à l'aise, mais je pourrais trouver mon chemin autour. Cependant, Je veux aller à l'école à Londres. So I will be going to Hogwarts. That is of course if my father will allow it."

i [Translation: But, I speak French rather well. True I am not fluent, but I would be able to find my way around. However, I want to go to school in London.] /i 

Even though Hermione, Ginny, and Estella were the only ones to comprehend what was being said, everyone dropped this subject at once. That was the first time that Liz had referred to Harry as her Father. Everyone knew he was, well everyone in the room at least. But this was still not something that was a topic of general conversation.

There were other schools that Liz could go to. She could go to any school that she wanted to because of her mother's profession. There was a great deal of respect that was given to Healers, and as Ginny Weasley had been the first one in known history to have conceived a child, that meant that Liz was just about as special a case as her mother was. But she had made her mind up when Professor McGonagall offered her the scholarship. The scholarship was not a financial one, but merely an exclusive invitation. As far as Elizabeth knew it didn't cost anything to attend there, except for of course buying your books and supplies. She would have to consult i Hogwarts, A History /i to find out for sure.

Hermione had given all three of the children a copy of the book for their eleventh birthday. Robert used his as a doorstop but this was only because both of the girls would always spout off the information from the book if it was needed. "What is the point in me reading it when Liz, 'Stella, and Mom all know the thing back to front?"

Ron laughed, "I said the same thing, but then I found out that your mother would sometimes quote things that were not wholly true, just to get me to react the way that she wanted me too. That is when I decided that it would be best if I read it myself just so that I would know when she was twisting the truth. I knew I should have picked up more than one Veritastone for Christmas our Sixth Year."

"Who has a Veritastone?" Robert squealed.

"Mom, of course, how do you think she always knows when you are lying about doing your homework?"

Everyone laughed at Robert as his ears turned bright red. A sure sign that he was his father's son, everyone except Ginny that is. Liz noticed that her mother was being unusually quiet. "Are you alright mom? Everything at work going alright?" Liz was the only one who worried on a daily basis about her mother and her powers as a healer.

i "I am fine baby, work has worn me a little thin though. Does anyone have any objections to me going upstairs and taking a quick nap?" /i 

"Of course not," this was Hermione, "let me walk you to the guest room, and you can sleep for as long as you need to."

They both walked upstairs and if the people in the kitchen hadn't started laughing they would have heard Ginny tell Hermione that she needed to borrow Pig to send a letter.

(A/N- the idea that Ginny was a Healer was taken from the fic After the End by Sugar Quill on I am sure that she is a Healer in other stories but this is the one that I read. Nothing else will be taken from this fiction except for the title of the book that she used to learn this craft, which is called: i _Empathy in Sorcery: A History and Guide /i , _and the fact that she first learned of her powers while being home schooled by Remus Lupin in her seventh year.)


End file.
